This Is Why We Fight: The Revival
by ChloeRhiannonX
Summary: Two years after what Gwen thought to be the end, life starts to get crazy all over again. The zombies are still thriving, her new job thrusting her into the middle of the fight. And, to make matters worse, the girl she's commissioned with, who woke up with no memories, could very well be the same girl she watched die four years earlier... This Is Why We Fight sequel.
1. Prologue

**Welcome back to this wonderful world.**

 **This is a sequel story to This Is Why We Fight, so if you haven't read that yet, I most highly recommend it. Otherwise you you could get very confused.**

* * *

 **This Is Why We Fight: The Revival**

 **Prologue**

 **Where It Starts Over**

One of the many strange things about waking up with no memory is not knowing if this is how you imagined it before. I didn't know if I'd thought my brain would turn to complete mush, where I would have to learn to walk and talk all over again. I didn't know if I thought my brain would have flashes of memories, something to cling to, something to piece back together. I didn't know if I thought it would be like it was, with me waking up in an unknown place, not having any idea how I got there or why I'm still there. Able to recite the alphabet backwards but unable to say to my own name.

It took me a while to sit up, leaning back on the flat pillows, my eyeballs swaying in their sockets as I tried to scan the area. I was alone in a bedroom with minimal furniture surrounding me. The closet doors were wide open, the contents scattered around the floor; the window was DIY-barred; the only exit door was cracked open, awkwardly sitting on it's hinges. The bed around me was made up, making me wonder how long I'd actually been lying there if I hadn't tossed and turned all night.

There were voices coming from outside the door. As I pressed my feet to the floor one of them raised higher, startling me back onto the bed. A neat cloud of dust raised around my bare arms and I sneezed before covering my lower face guiltily. The voices didn't stop.

I tried to creep closer but the feeling in my stomach pushed me back. I didn't know how friendly these people would be. I didn't know if I was supposed to know them, or if they knew me. They could have easily have been people anyone; just some kids breaking into a possibly abandoned house, maybe even the owners of the house.

Instead of pressing my luck, I silently moved myself over the bed, rolling onto the floor the other side, closer to the window. I held one hand on a misshapen plank of wood that had been haphazardly nailed to the walls either side of the pane. I gave a tug and it didn't budge. Whoever had put this up hadn't wanted this window in use at all. I managed to squeeze my hand through two of the planks, pulling the stained curtains to one side. I was on the ground floor, looking out onto an empty street. The one-story houses that I could see directly across from me were not in great shape. Windows put through, no doors just holes in the wall. In the distance I could faintly hear a car alarm going off and to my left I could see the distant glow of flashing yellow lights to match it. There was no people in sight, and it didn't look like there had been anyone round for some time.

The sun was rising, casting the area in a sweet glow. I wanted to pry the planks off and escape through the window, but I figured that would cause too much noise. As I stood and contemplated the plan, the voices from within the house raised again.

"This was a very stupid plan!" The male voice rose first. "You could have gotten us all killed!"

"I had to do it!" The female injected. "I couldn't come all the way out here to middle-of-nowhere Texas and not find out what had happened with her!" There was silence for a moment and I was sure they were glaring at each other from cross whatever room they were in, before the same girl spoke up again. "I should have told you the plan, I'm sorry." She was speaking softer now, I struggled to hear. "I just...I couldn't lose her again."

"Where are you going?" The guy called out off-topic.

"To check she's okay," was the reply, louder this time. By the moment I realized it was because she was outside the door, the door was already being slid aside, and I had no time to prepare myself to meet her.

She was young. I'd liked to have guessed around my age but I didn't know how I old I was. Her hair was dark, cropped to her ears and didn't look as if she knew what a hairbrush was. I was surprised to find out I knew what a hairbrush was. She was pale, tired, wearing all black, tight clothing. There was something familiar about her face but it was like a dream; the more I tried to remember, the more I seemed to forget. I knew I knew her face, the more she stared at me as I pushed my back against the planks, the more trusting I became. Betrayed by my own instinct, I opened my mouth to ask her a range of questions, but they all fell out of my mouth at once, in one big heap of unintelligible sounds.

"You're awake," was all she replied with. "I didn't think you'd be up for a few more hours."

The silence wasn't awkward, but it was tense. She was staring at me and I didn't have anywhere to hide. It was clear she didn't know what to do next either, as if me waking up hadn't been part of her plans at all. I was starting to wonder if she was holding me hostage with the barred windows and holding herself in front of the only exit. Maybe she'd intended to kill me, knock me over the head with a blunt object but instead I got knocked out and it induced my memory loss. Maybe that was how I knew her face: it was the last thing I saw before I went unconscious. But she could have easily put a bullet in my head, or sliced open my throat, based off just the two weapons I could see hanging in her low belt. It also didn't explain why I was feeling so trusting about her- unless my judgment got knocked severely off from the head trauma.

So I did the best thing I could in this situation, "Who...Who are you?" I asked, taken back by how raw my voice sounded. Did I always sound this way?

"Gwen!" The male voice picked up again, drawing nearer as well. "Would you stop staring at her face? It's kind of cre- Oh." He appeared in the doorway behind the girl- Gwen- his hair wind swept and his face more shocked than hers. "She's awake..."

"I did notice," Gwen replied bitterly, but her voice wasn't strong. Her eyes were still locked on me. I watched as the guy squeezed his way passed Gwen, coming into the room. I pushed myself further back but the wooden planks dug into my back.

"It's okay," he said, holding up his hands. "We're not going to hurt you. My name's Mike, we're...friends."

"She doesn't remember anything, Mike," Gwen told him. "We're strangers to her." Her voice broke and she left the room before I could query anything.

Mike bit his lip, watching her go. I studied his face while his attention was off me, wondering why he looked so out-of-breath. His face was tired, dark circles lining his blank eyes, as if there was nothing going on inside his head at all. He wore all black clothes, similar to Gwen's, with a matching tool-belt across his waist. There was a gun holstered to his right leg and a knife secured to his left. His arms were folded against his chest instead of on his weapons, so I didn't think he found me to be a threat. Maybe we were friends.

"You'll have to excuse Gwen," he said at last, turning back to look at me. He seemed to be studying my face as I had his, his eyes sweeping up and down. "She's...this was her mission- which I was not told about beforehand, for the record- and I think it went better than she expected. You weren't what she expected."

I stared blankly at him. Not what she expected? Were they waiting on someone else and I had shown up instead? As hard as I tried I couldn't remember anything before waking up, my mind was drawing white noise in my eyes, filling my senses with static.

Mike spoke to me as if I would know what was going on. Gwen seemed more aware of my memory loss which only made me all the more curious.

I took a glance around the room again, wondering if this was where they found me, or if they had been the ones to bring me here. A brief conversation later and I had a whole new set of questions to ask, but I didn't know who to ask them to. There was no way of knowing if either of these people would tell me the truth. There was no way of knowing if I could trust either of them, despite what my gut told me.

"Are you hungry?" Mike asked after a brief pause, nodding his head towards the door. "Come on, meet the rest of the team."

He was already in the hallway before I decided it was best to follow him. Maybe if I was cooperative they wouldn't try to kill me (possibly try to kill me _again_ ). I moved as quietly as I could, following Mike without taking my eyes off him. The hallway was small, cramped, short. It led immediately to an open room where three more new people were sat around a kitchen table, and Gwen leaned against the opposite wall.

"What...What's my name?" I whispered, hoping Mike would only hear me.

But it was Gwen who answered, looking up at her through dark eyes, showing no emotion on her face.

"Courtney," she said. "Your name is Courtney."

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 **A/N: I never planned to write a sequel for this story...but Goddamn am I so glad I am! This Is Why We Fight is one of my all time favourite stories I have ever had the pleasure of writing, so getting to relive in this world is amazing. I've been working on a sequel for this since Christmas 2014, a little over a year, but I just couldn't find the exact plot points to hit. Let's hope I found it this time.**

 **I'm not a huge fan of First POV, but I felt the story had to be told from Courtney's POV, as someone completely new to this world, having to learn it all (again!).**

 **But alas, the last time we did see Courtney, she was dead, mauled by zombies. So what is going on here? tee he he. Oh how happy I am with my brain. I also have to give a brief mention to my brother, AJ, who gave me a wonderful plot-twist to play out in much later chapters. I won't spoil anything just yet ;)**

 **Thanks for reading, please review (:**

 **Love, ChloeRhiannonX**


	2. Chapter 1

**This Is Why We Fight: The Revival**

 **Chapter One**

 **Where It's Real**

The heat was starting to bother me. We'd been walking for the last six hours with minimal rest stops, and if I had to listen to Noah's grainy voice for one more moment I was going to snap.

The road ahead of us was uneven, badly damaged from a time long before it's abandonment. Sweat fell from my forehead and sizzled on the ground. I wiped my face with the rag Mike had provided me with. From the small group, Mike was probably the only one I wasn't weary of. He seemed to genuinely want to help and cared about my well-being. Before we'd left the safe house, Mike was the one checked to make sure I was fully equip with everything I needed. Food, water, clothing, a backpack to hold everything in. I'd declined a weapon- I didn't think I was a dangerous person, a weapon would make me feel even more out of place.

The team also consisted of Eva (who hadn't done more than nod her head and grunt when Mike had introduced her); Noah (who was the brains of the team but never knew when to stop talking); and Trent (who had given me the warmest smile before whispering together with Gwen, making me feel very uncomfortable). Gwen made me feel the most uneasy. She hadn't spoken anything to me since she'd confirmed my name; she barely looked my way.

Courtney. That was me. That was what I was called. Mike referred to me by that name and every time he did I didn't even think to respond because it seemed so...unfamiliar. I guess I'd been expecting for it to all click together in my mind. If I knew one thing I knew everything. Courtney. The more I said it over in my mind, the more unreal it became.

"Courtney," Mike called out. My head lifted up, one eye closing to see him in the direct daylight. "You alright?"

I nodded, dropping my head back to the ground. He was a few steps ahead of me, walking up next to Noah. Gwen and Trent were a distance ahead and Eva was directly behind me. It had been two days of travelling, walking all day, staying in run-down houses at night, and this was the way the group had fallen into long before I had arrived on the scene.

No one had told me exactly what the plan was, no even the basics. For now we were travelling to an undisclosed location, that was all I was allowed to know. I didn't have a reason to stick with them, but somehow I couldn't leave. Even if I didn't trust them entirely there was no where else for me to go to. If I had a home, a family, I didn't know it.

The group were filling my head with stories of tragedy. Mike had done his best to summarize what had happened; why the streets were deserted everywhere we walked; why they carried dangerous weapons, their hands held over them at every new turning; why they couldn't give me solid answers. I couldn't grasp much of it, it all sounded like a fairy tale.

And, of course, the worst part of it all was the Z-word.

I know I didn't remember a lot, and they knew it to, so for a long time after they told me about the _zombies_ I had laughed it off. In fact, I was still laughing it off as the group around me came to a grounding halt. My feet tripped as I tried to stop just as quick, and the only reason I didn't land on my face was Eva's tight grip on my arm hauling me back.

I went to thank her but her other hand clamped over my mouth to shut me up. I stared astonished, trying to turn to Mike for help, but he had one hand raised in the air, the other clutching his gun holster. His face was blank, head raised in the air, listening out for a sound that I couldn't hear.

And then I heard it. A low grumbling coming from one of the houses nearby. At first I thought it was a trapped animal. Maybe a raccoon or a possum that had been hurt, or was hungry. Something that could be dealt with easily. But then it got louder, like an angry swarm, and I could feel the fear raising from the team.

Then it all erupted and I fell to the floor in shock as Eva's grip loosened as she grabbed for her gun. There was a rush of limp bodies, steadily coming towards us. The bullets went off around me, ringing through the air. I covered my ears and tried not to panic.

My idea of not panicking was lying on the ground, unable to move myself out of sheer fear of being trampled or shot. I was surprised any of the group heard me scream above the shooting that was buzzing around me, but my mouth fell open as one particularly gross human came limping in my direction. Eva and Mike were occupied, being swarmed on their own. I couldn't see Noah or Trent though I couldn't say I was searching very far, the horror of being attacked by one of these _creatures_.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the worst to be over, wishing I had taken up Mike's offer of a weapon, but all I heard was a closer spray of bullets, and the next thing I felt was my shoulders being shaken and my head snapped back and fore as my eyes opened.

"Are you hurt? Did one of them bite you?"

I shook my head, my mouth dry, my mind unable to comprehend what else was going on around me.

Gwen grabbed my upped arm, hauling me to my feet. Her mouth was moving but I couldn't hear any words. I couldn't hear anything anymore. My heart was beating and my stomach hurt and then it ended.

* * *

I woke up in a car, alone. I was stretched out in the back, the door open and the dry heat scorching my bare legs as they dangled over the side of the seat. I could hear voices, just a short distance away, but I didn't make any effort to move at first. My head didn't hurt but it didn't feel right. My thoughts were more fragmented than I remembered them being before. Flashes of decaying creatures, loud ringing noises, the inset fear that spread through my chest when I thought about it.

I sat up quickly, shaking my head free of the memories. They sank into the back of my mind, ready to pounce on me later. It would have to do, I knew, for now. I was leaning on my elbows, taking in my surroundings as best as I could. There was dried blood on the inside roof, and the front seats, and most likely the seat I was lying on as well. There was no door to the car, it was lying on the floor. The other three doors appeared to be locked, and I didn't want to think about a scene where one of those creatures had an innocent family trapped in their vehicle, only to rip off the door and kill them all. That thought made me face reality a little clearer and I didn't think I was ready for that yet.

Gwen, Trent and Mike were the first three I saw- huddled together on the front yard of a house- as I clambered out onto the street. Mike's head shot up, hand on his gun, but he smiled when he saw me.

"Sleep Beauty has joined us," he joked, throwing an arm around my shoulders. I tensed.

I wanted to ask too many questions, starting with _What were those things?_ but it didn't seem like the right time. My eyes were resting on Gwen, wanting to thank her for saving my life, but she had her attention on the house.

"I'm going to see what's taking them so long," she said, and disappeared through the whole where the front door would have been.

The house didn't look like the rest. The outside was as destroyed, but the windows and doors were boarded more securely. The splintered front door was thrown on the browning lawn, rusted nails bolted evenly to keep it in place. No escape. But no entrance either. A small part of my mind was starting to click into place to what was going on, based on what Mike had said, and what I was seeing for myself. It was scary, yet familiar.

"What's going on here?" I asked, crossing my arms across my chest, staring up to the second story of the house. There was slight movement behind the boards on the windows, but I guessed it was one of the group.

I could see Mike and Trent exchange a short glance as my eyes came back down to rest between them. Mike nodded his head and I turned my attention fully to him for an explanation.

"We are a specialized team," he started, which he had mentioned before. "We're an _Extraction Team_. We get distress calls from survivors across the country, and we rescue them. We take them to one our safe bases and then we send them to a new country to start a new life."

"Seems reasonable," I commented, nodding my head.

"The only problem is we don't usually get to the survivors in time."

The bright blaze of fire from upstairs made me jump. They had well-timed that. Trent and Mike guided me back towards the road as the other three joined us, the house burning orange and the groans of the not-quite-dead echoed behind us.

 **A/N: Welp. Took my sweet time on this one didn't I.**

 **I started writing this immediately after I posted the last chapter, but life is horrible and stops you from doing things.**

 **Two weeks ago today, January 11th, my hamster Willow passed away. Life kinda went downhill from there really...**

 **But I think I'm back on track. Keep an eye out for an update on Taylor Towers or Shadowplayer later this week! Don't ask me what I'm doing with Maybe Not Everything because I have no freaking idea.**

 **Thanks for reading, please review (:**

 **Love, ChloeRhiannonX**


	3. Chapter 2

**This Is Why We Fight: The Revival**

 **Chapter Two**

 **Where I'm Learning**

In the daze of the house fire and my near-death experience, I hadn't noticed the pain in my knee. It was only a small cut, not deep and barely bleeding. Mike, however, upon seeing I was hurt, called the group to an immediate rest at an old gas station.

"It's not that big of a deal," I protested. "I'm hardly going to bleed to death." Mike looked up to me, frowning. His dark eyes were circling my face, glazing over in memory. He shook his head clear of it just as quickly as it had happened.

"My uh...my wife, she's a nurse. She'd never forgive me if I didn't stitch you up." His face lit up at the mention of his wife, a genuine smile which was I had been hard-pressed to find anywhere since waking up in that bed.

"You're married?"

"Oh yes," he blushed, avoiding my gaze and focusing on unwinding the bandage he had acquired from the first-aid kit that was hidden in Noah's backpack. "We've uh...almost two years now. I've known her for a long time though, almost our entire lives I guess."

"And you survived all this?" I questioned, my eyes scanning the deserted town we had entered. It was as familiar as all the other places we'd passed through. Dust and decay. Cars abandoned in the middle of roads; gardens overgrown; an ever deafening silence that crept it's way into your mind, playing tricks and making you think.

Mike was nodding his head, thoughtfully. "Yeah," he smiled wistfully. "We survived." He started wrapping up knee, slowly, carefully. It was the neatest bandage I had ever seen. Or so I thought. Had I needed a bandage before?

I lifted my head, trying not to think too hard. I found that trying to not remember helped. Of course, I knew I was lying to myself. I didn't remember anything whether I was trying to or not, but at least by not thinking about it, I wasn't upsetting myself either.

I tried to spot one of the group through the stained windows on the deserted building. They had disappeared to find food and supplies, but I was already starting to notice the empty-handed pattern that followed at every stop we made. Every store- no matter how huge or how remote- were always ransacked long before we arrived. I was starting to understand just how long this infection had been going on for. It wasn't a recent development, it had spanned over years.

The group was I was travelling with weren't a bunch of teenage misfits; they were a highly skilled set of people. I hadn't had a lot of time to process the fact they were an extraction team, and I wasn't entirely sure what it meant, but I got the logistics of it. They were deadly. They were sent out into the middle of a danger zone and told, not only to come back alive, but to bring other people back alive with them.

"What are you going to do now?" I asked, using my hand to shield my eyes from the sun as I scanned the area around us before resting back on Mike. He was kneeling on the dirt road in front of me, packing up the first-aid kit. "You mission failed, didn't it?" I asked. I hadn't inquired about it yet. My mind was reeling with the images of the flames growing higher, the screams of the innocent racking my brain. "Those people, the ones you were meant to _extract_ , they had turned into...them."

He nodded, noticing my understanding of the situation. "They were infected, not yet turned, but it wouldn't have been long. It's a horrible process and it's kinder to kill them than to let them suffer it out."

"Isn't there a cure?"

Mike recoiled in shock. I hadn't expected such a brash reaction. He fell back onto one hand, staring open-mouthed up at me as if I'd told him I'd just murdered his wife.

"...There's no cure?" I tried to guess, but Mike didn't offer any kind of support on any theory I had. He continued to stare at me for a moment before getting to his feet, brushing down his worn jeans and walking away.

Halfway to the store, he turned back, his hands in his hair. I got to my feet but didn't dare move any closer. It was one thing for the rest of the group to be weird with me, but Mike was the one I thought I could trust. I understood he had to withhold information, it was part of the job. I didn't understand why he would act so weird over a small question.

"There was a cure," he said, swallowing hard. "But she...it...we don't have it anymore, Courtney. That's all. It's a long story." I wasn't going to press any further, but he added, "Don't bring it up with the others. Please. It was hard for us. For Gwen..."

My breath caught, my chest tightened. There was only one thought going through my mind and it was one I didn't want to think about.

"Is it my fault?" Mike finally lifted his eyes to mine. "Is it my fault, that there's no cure? Is that why Gwen looks at me in disgust all the time?"

"She does not-"

"Yes, she does. And this is why. It makes sense now, I guess." I threw my hands in the hair, turning on the spot, scoffing at the sky. It's not something I would have guessed easily, but it did make sense. There was probably some drama behind it. Someone close to Gwen needed the cure and I'd gone and destroyed it.

Was I that horrible of a person? I couldn't say for definite. I didn't know who I was, still. There was surely a reason behind it. I doubt I had done it for the hell of it. Even if I didn't know who I am, it still didn't sound like something I would do.

"That's not it, Court," Mike called out, pulling me back in with his words. "There's so much more to the story and you deserve to know the truth...just not know."

"Mike!" Gwen was standing in front of the open door behind him. I'd been too focused on myself to notice her at all. She looked exasperated. "It's clean."

 _Clean_ was code for _this place is empty_ \- it was something I'd picked up along the way- but I'd noticed that Mike thought it meant _this_ _place is empty but you should still check it out yourself anyway_ , because as soon as Gwen had said the words, he was at the doors in front of her.

That, unfortunately, meant Gwen and I were alone for the first time since our meeting. She let the door swing shut behind the only person I kind of trusted and suddenly I could feel the Texas heat harder than before.

I didn't want to be the first to speak between us, but it was awkward enough for me to lose the tense battle.

"I-" But Gwen wouldn't allow me to say anything.

"I don't know what stories Mike has been filling your head with, and I don't really care," she stated in her usual _too cool for you_ way. "How's your head?" I nodded, my throat too dry to speak. "Do you remember anything?" I shook my head.

Gwen sighed, starting to walk towards me. She put her hands on her tool belt and for a moment I tensed, scared of what weapon she was about to pull on me, before realizing she was removing it all together. I watched her drop it onto the turned over crate Mike had sat me on.

"I didn't do that, by the way," she said, her back turned to me. "Your head, I mean. I know that's what you think but you're wrong- I don't want to know what else you think," she persisted on when I opened my mouth to protest.

"What's the plan?" I asked instead, not wanting Gwen's wrath down on me. Whether she did try to bash my skull in with a rock or not, that wasn't something I wanted to get into at that moment. "Mike confirmed your mission failed but he left before he could tell me the big 'What's Next?'"

She was silent again and I didn't have to see her face to know she tossing back and fore the idea of telling me the truth or not. It was becoming a tiring game not knowing whether I was coming or going with the information I was provided. I had very little proof that everything the group said was truth or not, but after the attack, I was feeling a little uneasy to tell them I could make it on my own from here.

"Our comms are down," she said, tapping one well-chewed nail on what appeared to be a walkie-talkie attached in her tool belt. "We can't get hold of base or, well anyone. It all went quiet just before we picked you up. Not that I blame you, before you jump to anymore stupid conclusions-"

"Stupid conclusions?" I questioned. "I think they're all perfectly rational."

"Oh you would, wouldn't you?" She snorted, turning around to face me. I wanted to come back with a smart-alec response, knowing that there was just something tugging at me to fight back against her, but the look on her face had me stop. We hadn't been this close to each other yet. I hadn't had a chance to see her face this close up. She was young and tired. Her eyes were dark, but not black like I'd thought. They were green and beautiful, drawing me closer in a way that felt familiar yet new. Like falling in love all over again...

"I got us a truck!"

I shook myself clean of that thought, taking a step back and clearing my throat.

Trent was standing a short distance away, a broad grin on his face as if he'd won gold at the Olympics.

"I hot wired it all myself."

"And now the student becomes the master," Gwen joked, a grin spreading through her solid face. I watched the two of them as they laughed together, exchanging words in a way I had never seen before. A comfortable way, a familiar way. It just wasn't familiar enough for me to understand it.

 **A/N: Oh poor Courtney...when will she learn the truth?**

 **When will we learn the truth?**

 **Oh how I've got things planned :D :D I never plan things but this story is definitely my favourite one I'm writing right now, hence why updates will probably be quicker on this than the rest of my stories. But, have no fear if you're reading my others as well, I haven't forgotten about them!**

 **Thanks for reading, please review (:**

 **Love, ChloeRhiannonX**


	4. Chapter 3

**This Is Why We Fight: The Revival**

 **Chapter Three**

 **Where It Doesn't Make Sense**

The Texas heat was unbearable at best, but cramped into the back seat of a pick-up truck was on another level. I'd disposed of my jacket, sitting only in a black tank top and ragged jean shorts, squashed in between Eva and Noah who were in long sleeved tops and pants, much to my horror.

On the front bench was Gwen and Trent with Mike behind the wheel. They were all in more heat appropriate clothing, to my relief.

I found myself staring at the back of Gwen's head. Her short hair was pulled into two sloppy, low pigtails, which I would have expected to look ridiculous on her, but it didn't. My head tilted and I had to stop my hand from reaching out and tugging on one like a delinquent child. I didn't want to anger Gwen anymore than what I already had. And the others stared at me weirdly enough as it was.

I recalled what Gwen had told me, how it wasn't her fault about my head. I wanted to ask her whose fault it was, but I knew she wouldn't have answered me. Every time Gwen stared at me I could see her eyes filling with thoughts and secrets. But at least I found relief knowing I wasn't the only person she was keeping things from; other than Trent, everyone else seemed in the unknown with her too. I was starting to wonder how she and Mike had become the leaders of this mismatched group of people.

I knew I was distracting myself- thinking of Gwen and Mike- from Noah's incessant babbling. Tuning out his strategic plans was harder to do when his mouth was against your ear, and all Noah ever talked about was is plans; new ones he was creating, the flaws in the ones they'd left the base with. No one was listening to him. One of the first things I'd picked up in the group was that no one listened to Noah. He was the sort of person who didn't understand he was being annoying.

"It's gonna be a long trip," Mike mumbled as we pulled up to another gas station. I heard him sigh before exiting the truck. Noah and Eva vacated either side of me, and I threw my head back against the headrest, closing my eyes and wishing for n easier life. Did I know what an easy life was?

We'd pulled into three other stops after the first one, but they were all empty. Morale was low and I was starting to wonder if we'd ever make it their base alive.

I didn't know much about the base, only that it was temporary. A holding place for the extraction teams. The main base was in England, along with their training facility and housing. Mike painted a beautiful picture when he spoke of it. He had turned to Gwen for back-up of their place, but she was cold and indifferent. It apparently it didn't hold a candle to Canada, where the two fo them (and Mike's wife) had hailed from before it had been nuked by the EU to stop the virus from spreading. It had, however, kept spreading regardless. Before anyone knew it the whole of North America, and parts of central America, had come under attack from the deadly virus. That was when the extraction teams had started coming in.

"You alright?" My neck whipped forward, eyes open, staring straight at Gwen. She was turned to her side, about to exit the passenger side door, but had her eyebrow raised at me in suspicion. Confusion? I was never able to tell with Gwen. She was a mystery I was distancing myself from.

I nodded my head and she climbed out. I let go of the breath I had been holding.

I wasn't afraid of Gwen, but I had now seen her use both her gun and knife, and, quite frankly, it was terrifying to watch. Though tearing my eyes away from her in battle was hard, she had such a fighting grace, as if the movement of her body was so natural she had been born doing it. It wasn't like Eva, who moved with such aggression you jumped out of her way even in a non-threatening situation, or Trent, who fought heavy-handed (and quite clumsily, if we're being honest here). Gwen had a style all of her own, level-headed, as I was sure she was outside of the battlefield.

We still hadn't run into any more zombies yet, so there had been no need to wield swords, but the group held their weapons at hand at all times. It was unnerving when the danger wasn't around.

I took my time getting down from the truck. The sun was directly overhead and I mindlessly wiped at my forehead, collecting sweat trails on the back of my hand.

Mike gave me a timid smile as I looked over to him at the gas pump. He was pushing all sorts of buttons, shaking the machine in his hands. It looked like we'd struck out again.

Gwen was on her knees in the shade, pulling things out of her backpack. I watched her for a moment; watched her mouth forming words with no one around to hear them; watched her neatly place her belongings all back inside her bag when she was finished and take a huge gulp of water before getting back to her feet.

"Hey," I coughed, not realizing I had been walking towards her at all.

"Hey," she replied, swinging the backpack over one shoulder as she got to her feet.

I stared at her for a second before opening my mouth into a rush of words.

"You do that a lot," Gwen commented, but not with any viciousness to her voice. She was just noting it. "You have a lot of things to say and you say them all at once. It hurts me ears."

"I uh...I wanted to say thank you," I told her before I lost my nerve. "For saving me when the...things attacked the other day. I should have said it to you then."

Gwen shrugged, her frown not shifting. "It's my job, saving innocent people." I wanted to ask if she still thought I was an innocent person, after I had destroyed the cure. "You're welcome, though." I nodded my head, noticing I had started swaying back-and-fore. "Listen, Mike told me not to be so hard on you, and I'm trying not to be. He told me to tell you nothing is your fault, whatever that means. What did you say to him?"

"It was nothing," I assured her. Did she deserve to know that I knew? Mike told me not to talk to anyone about it, especially not Gwen. I couldn't help imagining how badly she was react to that.

Trent and Noah reappeared from inside the worn down building, fingers pinching their noses. I realized what the blood stains on the windows meant. Trent shook his head in our direction. Gwen gave him one single nod before the two boys started heading around the back of the building to investigate the perimeter. I could hear Noah muttering from where we stood.

"So...Did you really teach your boyfriend how to hot wire a car?" I asked, "It seems very anti-stereotype." When I turned back to Gwen she had a smile on her face and for a moment I thought I was in the presence of another person. "What?"

"Trent's not my boyfriend, stupid," she replied, for the first time a light tone to her voice, as if a million thoughts had been lifted from her mind. "But yeah, I did teach him how to hot wire a car."

"That's a pretty handy skill to have, I guess, if you're out here a lot." I tried to stop myself from hitting my palm to my head. I sounded stupid but the words wouldn't stay in my mouth. "Did your actual boyfriend teach you how to hot wire a car?"

She stared at me for a moment, her dark green eyes more piercing up close. "You ask a lot of questions."

I shrugged. "I have a head injury, I don't know anything." It sounded reasonable. To me at least, if not to Gwen.

She was quiet for a moment, watching my face as if waiting for something to happen. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, which worried me to no end. She could have been ready to whip out her knife and carve into my face for all knew.

Or maybe not, I felt like we were making progress.

"You taught me to hot wire a car." Then she walked away.

I figured she wanted me to stay behind her, but that wasn't the sort of information you tell someone and then walk away from.

Gwen climbed into the front bench of the truck, sitting in the middle where she had been before. I hurried in after her, taking up Trent's seat. I opened my mouth to talk but Gwen beat me to it.

"Your boyfriend taught you how to hot wire a car, if that was your next question," she said.

"I have a boyfriend?" That was a first.

"Ex-boyfriend. He turned. I killed him." My face must have looked as horrified as I felt. "You didn't want me to kill him, if that makes it easier, even though he cheated on you...with me. It's complicated."

My life started to piece back together every time I spoke to Mike, but then I would speak to Gwen and things didn't seem so clear anymore. It was like Mike told me the shiny side to the things that he knew, Gwen threw in the reality afterwards and everything was out of whack.

I wanted to question Gwen about our shared ex some more, but Eva climbed back into the truck with a grunt and an arm full of power bars. We all felt Mike kick the back wheel of the truck in defiance just as Trent let out a holler as he and Noah came back to the front of the building with smiles on their faces, a gas can being carried between them.

While celebrated, I laid my head back staring up at the rood of the cab, wondering what I had done to deserve any of this.

* * *

 **A/N: I didn't think I'd finish this today but I did. Before I finished it I actually wrote out the plot twist scene because it was killing me. There is a no-spoiler sneak peek on my tumblr (aprincessnotaqueen) if anyone is interested!**


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